Breaking News

NZ told to improve human rights of LGBTQI people

Justice Minister Andrew Little is in Geneva for New Zealand's third
United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR), where overnight he
reported the current state of Human Rights in New Zealand.
As part of this process, UN member states made recommendations for specific areas New Zealand needs to improve on.

Until now, New Zealand has never had a recommendation from UN member
states during this process that relates to sexual orientation, sex
characteristics, or gender identity and expression.

Yet three countries - Chile, Australia and Iceland - have highlighted that we have problems that need to be addressed.

These relate specifically to the rights of intersex and gender minority communities.

Chile recommended NZ ended medical procedures on intersex people without their consent.

During the UPR pre-session in July, the Intersex Trust Aotearoa New
Zealand (ITANZ) urgently recommended the government address the human
rights of intersex people and said that intersex** people still faced
significant discrimination in medical, legal and social spheres.

Many doctors still perform non-consensual surgeries on intersex children.

Along the same lines, Australia "recommends New Zealand amend the Human
Rights Act of 1993 to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of
gender identity and intersex status".

In its current state, the Human Rights Act doesn't explicitly protect
people from discrimination on the grounds of gender identity, but
prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex.

While the Human Rights Commission interprets sex to include gender and
gender identity, it noted in its 2008 Transgender Inquiry that to
advance the rights of LGBTQI people, trans people needed explicit
protection under the Human Rights Act.

Addressing the UN member state recommendations, Mr Little announced that
the government was planning to include gender identity as a ground for
discrimination under the Human Rights Act.

"To ensure that the law is clear that it includes prohibition of
discrimination on grounds of gender identity and to ensure that [it] is
very clear to all New Zealanders," he said.

Taine Polkinghorne - the Human Rights Commission's advisor on Sexual
Orientation, Gender Identity, and Sex Characteristics - said this was a
big deal.

"While the Commission interprets the Human Rights Act to include
protection from discrimination for transgender people, trans communities
have been clear that they do not feel protected by this."

Amending the Act would bring New Zealand's legislation into compliance
with evolving international human rights standards, he said.

"It is within the governments own Rainbow policy to amend the Act and is
also an outstanding recommendation from the Human Rights Commission's
2008 Transgender Inquiry.

"The current backlash our trans and non-binary communities are facing in
Aotearoa indicate that current existing measures are not enough. In
addition to amending the Act, community groups have also called for
strong guidance to schools, government agencies, employers, and health
services about their responsibilities to protect and uplift the human
rights of trans, non-binary, and intersex people."

In his opening marks during last night's UN address, Mr Little said
LGBTQI communities were among those in New Zealand that faced more
barriers than others, highlighting the higher levels of violence rainbow
communities encounter.

He spoke of New Zealand's "unacceptably high levels" of domestic violence, specifically mentioning transgender and queer women.

"One in three women in New Zealand experience physical, emotional or sexual violence from a partner in their lifetime.

"Māori women, queer women, trans women, women living with a disability
and young women experience more violence and are more likely to be
victimised by current systems," he said.

Mr Polkinghorne said that women and LGBTQI people, including gender minorities, were disproportionately affected by violence.

"We know that violence is frequently used against people based on their
actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,
or sex. This is commonly in response to individuals who are more visible
in society, such as trans women and gender minorities, and same-sex
couples.

"Heightened visibility equates to heightened vulnerability, so it is
important that queer and trans women are specifically mentioned in
anti-violence strategies in order to prevent and respond to their
experiences of violence."

He also noted that other submissions on LGBTQI rights were made to the UPR by organisations and coalitions.

"It's fantastic to see some of this work paying off, but there were a number of recommendations that were not picked up."

While several countries commended NZ on its LGBTQI record, the
government, in partnership with our communities and organisations, still
had a lot to do in order to improve the human rights situation for
LGBTQI people in New Zealand, he said.https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52704